10 sailors missing after Navy destroyer John S. McCain collides with merchant vessel
By: Geoff Ziezulewicz and David B. Larter
Navy Times
20 Aug 2017
Ten sailors were missing early Monday after the destroyer John S. McCain collided with a merchant vessel in the South China Sea, 7th Fleet officials said.
It was the second major collision involving a U.S. Navy warship in the Pacific region in recent months, following one on June 17 involving the destroyer Fitzgerald off the coast of Japan, in which seven sailors died.
Details on the collision Monday remain sparse, but Navy officials said in a statement that “search and rescue efforts are underway in coordination with local authorities.”
The Navy issued a statement saying 10 sailors were missing and five sailors suffered minor injuries.
The McCain’s sailors are fighting flooding in two crew berthings and in shaft alley, which is a space aft of the main engineering spaces where shafts that rotate the ship’s propellers run through.
The collision with the Liberian-flagged merchant vessel Alnic MC happened while the U.S. ship was underway east of Singapore and the Strait of Malacca at 6:24 a.m. local time, according to Navy officials.
Unlike the collision between the destroyer Fitzgerald and the ACX Crystal off Japan in June, most of the crew would be up and moving around at that time.
The Alnic MC is a 600-foot oil and chemical tanker with a gross tonnage of 30,000, according to a Navy release. The tanker is about three times the size of the McCain.
